NEW DELHI: Bringing some respite for lakhs of affected borrowers whose accounts were frozen in the last few days unilaterally to comply with earlier deadline of July 31, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday allowed banks three more months’ time to implement its new current account rules.
While the RBI has made it clear that it is in no mood to change the proposed rules, the lenders had requested the regulator for some more time to resolve the operational issues for implementing the provisions of the August 2020 circular in letter and spirit. In a notification, the RBI said this extended time can be utilised by banks to engage with their borrowers to arrive at mutually satisfactory resolutions within the ambit of the circular.
Such issues which banks are unable to resolve themselves shall be escalated to Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for appropriate guidance, the RBI said. “Residual issues, if any, requiring regulatory consideration shall be flagged by IBA to the Reserve Bank for examination by September 30, 2021,” the central bank said.Under the new guidelines, no bank can open current accounts for customers who have availed credit facilities from the banking system.